My Idea Journal: the Foolish and Forgotten

I have two. One is a pretty little journal someone gave me several years ago. Unfortunately, I misplace it constantly. So I’ve taken to using the notes section in my daily planner.

(Yes, I use an old-fashioned printed planner. Don’t judge.)

My problem with idea journals is that I rarely remember what I had in mind when I first wrote the ideas down. Which is what happened when I reviewed my entries recently, hoping for inspiration.

Instead, I’m offering my ideas to you. Maybe you can work them into something.

You’re welcome.

1. Pet Peeves and Dearest Delights

I think I was considering turning this into a regular feature, which upon reflection just sounds like a gripe fest better suited for Facebook.

In any case, I liked the sentence I scribbled underneath:

I don’t have many pet peeves, but the ones I do have are taken out for long walks and fed regularly.

Downright tweetable, don’t you think?

2. When the Kitchen Floor Crunches and Mom Isn’t Around, Does it Make a Sound?

From the quality of my penmanship, my guess is this was written very late one night.

I can see it now: I get up for a glass of water, walk into the kitchen and *crunchcrunchycrunch* — some late-night snacker spilled cereal on the floor and didn’t bother sweeping it up.

Forcing me to wonder: am I the only one who hears it? Really?!

Really?!!

3. Confessions of the GIF-Intolerant Blogger

I like the title, but not sure what I had in mind for content. I suppose I was going to gripe about GIFs, but how long is that good for?

And if I’m going to write about GIFs, I’d have to include some as examples, which is a problem because I’m pretty sure I’m allergic to them. The second I land on a blog and there’s a constantly moving graphic, over and over…

I mean, OMG! At least give me an option for stopping the movement, okay?! That constant herky-jerky motion as I’m trying to read? I hate that!

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Author: CJ Hartwell

After spending most of her life in Phoenix, Arizona, CJ Hartwell moved to the middle of Minnesota. Is she nuts? Probably. For updates on her sanity, click on the link to follow by email.
View all posts by CJ Hartwell

27 thoughts on “My Idea Journal: the Foolish and Forgotten”

No judgement on traditional planner. . . I have been using a Franklin Planner since 1992 and while I tried the electronic version, I like the paper version much better. Twenty five year’s worth of binder sleeves does take up a good bit of space though.

you should totally write a blog post about the “Samson Action Figure.” Oh yes, please.
I use to keep an idea file on my computer, but most of the time I’d go back, read it and have no idea what I was thinking of when I wrote it.

I’ll give Samson some thought. Maybe if I find a Delilah for him, he won’t be so lonely.
Why is it our late night inspiration never holds up to the light of day? Man, I’ve lost more great American novels that way. 😏

Inspiration is fleeting, but an idea journal works like a dreamcatcher. And just like dreams, some of them won’t make any sense while others might give way to something incredible 😉 A thoroughly worthwhile exercise!

Love this post, CJ! Dearest Delights could be a really fun one. It sounds like something I’d do. Would love to read one about Delilah too. I keep my random blog post ideas in “the hopper” which is in my draft folder. But sometimes I’m too lazy for that and find myself scribbling down stuff on random pieces of paper or post it notes. And yes, many a time I look at these later and think WTF?

We likely have the same hard copy organizer – I too use the journal section for ideas. Typically (since I can’t speech-to-text them in public) I’m interrupted before completing the thought and then I forget where I was going with them… Still, I love your ideas. I simply have too much guilt already to borrow or steal them = >

I use 3×5 index cards to scribble ideas and keep track of things I’m working on or should be working on. (I buy the packs that have multiple colors, not for any coding purposes but just because I like the variety.) I just plucked a random one out of the current stack:

It entertained me to see that exclamation point with the final entry. I know what a Whoberry is (the name of a blogger’s cat) but I don’t know what I intended to do with Whoberry. Apparently it was urgent, but not enough to actually do it… 😉

P.S. I’d have to go with the voting bloc that is pushing for a Samson (and Delilah!) story…

I recently purchased a little notebook for my purse, about the size of 3×5 cards, the company’s name is Yoobi. Which sounds like a sibling to Whoberry. So there you go.
I am, at this moment, working on a Samson and Delilah post for next week. I am very excited about it. Stay tuned. 😀

Don’t like physically writing or typing (yes, I’m lazy and my fingers can’t keep up with my brain and that frustrates me when I have to go back and correct all the typos) ANYWHO, it seems that I always think of things driving to work, and of course I can’t stop and record them because I’m on my way to work and I don’t want to be late, so I try to memorise things, but I don’t and then they are gone like the wind when I actually have time to write them down, and YES, I didn’t take anybreaths in between any of these words, nor use punctuation. Just how I feel tonight 🙂
I vote for Delilah – she was way more interesting that Samson, and just the sound of her name ….Dee lie lah is so musical.

I admit, I considered the name Delilah for our daughter. It’s such a beautiful name. But when I mentioned it, my husband started singing the Tom Jones song: My, my, my… Delilah! Why, why, why… Delilah! — and I knew that would happen every time.
So, yeah. We didn’t name her Delilah. 🙂

I admittedly do like Gifs from time to time, but sometimes they are used too much as a crutch when it comes to bloggers. In other words, I get why you’re not a fan. Also, I’m trying to catch up on your entries as well as others. I got distracted with life and work lately and let the blog life suffer for it! I’m trying to read a post a day from you and other bloggers I follow to catch up. Thanks for supporting my blog as well!

That recent follow you got from me was because I finally found your “follow by email” button (for some reason it didn’t show on my iPad). I was “following” you, but only in the sense you appeared in my reader which I rarely go to because SOME bloggers post or repost 5000 times a day. (In my naive blogger days, I didn’t know how to ferret them out and now I’m too blame nice to unfollow them.) Anyway, my point is, I was actually worried you weren’t blogging anymore, so I’m glad I found your button. 😉
Thanks for taking the time to catch up!
As for Gifs, my kids make fun of me whenever I complain about them. Sigh.

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Hey there! I'm C.J., a tortured writer living in a small seaside cottage with my Malamute and 52 cats. Not really, but that's my dream.
If one of your dreams is finding a safe haven to unwind and have a chuckle or two, I hope Feeding on Folly becomes that place for you.